Chapter 19
256, 257. A person is not just if they push a case through by force. The one who carefully tells right from wrong, who is learned and guides others not by force but by law and fairness, who is protected by the law and acts with discernment—that person is called just.
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A person is not learned just because they talk a lot. The one who is patient, free from hatred and free from fear—that person is called learned.
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A person is not an upholder of the law just because they talk about it often. Even someone who has studied little, but sees the law directly in their own being, is an upholder of the law and never neglects it.
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A person is not an elder simply because their hair is grey. Their years may be many, yet they may still only be called “Old-in-vain.”
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The one in whom there is truth, virtue, kindness, restraint, and moderation, who is free from impurity and is wise—that person is called an elder.
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An envious, greedy, or dishonest person does not become respectable through fine talk alone, or through a handsome appearance.
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But the one in whom all these faults are destroyed, uprooted entirely, who is free from hatred and is wise—that person is called respectable.
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A shaved head does not make a Samana out of an undisciplined person who tells lies. How can someone be a Samana while still held captive by desire and greed?
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The one who quiets every evil, whether small or great, is called a Samana (a quiet one), because they have quieted all evil.
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A person is not a mendicant (Bhikshu) merely by asking others for alms. The one who takes up the whole law is a Bhikshu—not someone who simply begs.
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The one who is beyond good and evil, who is chaste, who passes through the world with true knowledge—that person is truly called a Bhikshu.
268, 269. A person is not a Muni just by keeping silent (mona, i.e. mauna), if they remain foolish and ignorant. But the wise one who, weighing things in the balance, chooses the good and avoids the evil—that one is a Muni, and a Muni by that very fact. Whoever in this world weighs both sides is called a Muni.
- A person is not noble (Ariya) if they harm living creatures. It is because someone has compassion for all living creatures that they are called Ariya.
271, 272. Not by discipline and vows alone, not by extensive learning, not by entering deep meditation, not by sleeping in solitude, do I obtain the happiness of release that no worldly person can know. Bhikshu, do not be complacent as long as you have not reached the extinction of desire.
